We can see evidence of Aunt Barbary’s influence in Esther’s life if we look no further than her name. As Esther was taken from her mother immediately after birth, it was her aunt who named her. Although Esther was a common name in the Victorian period, the significance of this name is worth examining. Larson writes, “Dickens’s ‘orphan’ heroine is born into a peculiarly Victorian captivity: she is captive not to pagans but to biblical texts barbarously applied in an unchristian spirit, and the slave name bestowed is a euphemism to cover the shame of Esther Summerson’s fallen woman associations” (143). While I do not agree with the strong language that Larson uses to describe the aunt, I believe she makes a good point in connecting the name of Esther with this biblical heroine. I do not see Aunt Barbary acting unchristian so much as I see her as legalistic. Though her method of instruction is admittedly harsh, I believe it served Esther better than if she had had not instruction at all. Larson uses the word “barbarously” to describe the way this aunt applies biblical texts. I would suggest that her name, Aunt Barbary, is a play on the word barbaric; or a satiric play on Barnabus who is known biblically as “the Encourager.” Although most would probably argue that she did not encourage Esther, I believe she did push her towards the virtues that shaped her into a model Christian character, even if she did take her aunt’s faith and go in a different direction. I see this name that is placed on Esther Summerson as a robe: a garment that covers her and in a sense, covers her sins as well. By placing this garment on and becoming Esther, she is freed from the sins of the past that she was born into. This idea of being clothed with a garment or robe is a symbol that is much associated with the Bride of Christ. “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10). In the Old Testament, daughters of kings who were virgins wore long robes that went down to their ankles and wrists. The length of the robe signified that she did not work; it also set her apart as a virgin and signaled by its elaborate embroidery that she was the daughter of a king (see 2 Samuel 13:18). God covers unrighteousness and makes each person acceptable to him by covering that person’s sins with the robes of righteousness. This is a concept that is born in the Old Testament and carries into the New Testament. Christ makes this righteousness possible: giving a new garment to the ‘daughter’ so that the person might become the Bride of Christ and apart of a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9).
Dickens’s Esther shares many traits with the Esther of the Bible who was orphaned and raised by Mordecai, a cousin who took her for his own daughter and gave her a new name when she was taken into captivity. King Xerxes rounded up all the young virgins and groomed them to be his concubines. The women were sent away for several months of beauty rituals before they could even see the king. Esther had beauty beyond that of any other, was given special treatment and soon won the heart of King Xerxes. Because of her favor with the king, she was able to save her whole race, the Israelites.
Surely Dickens wants his readers to make a connection between the biblical Esther and Esther Summerson in his novel, Bleak House. He wants his readers to see his Esther as someone who has come from a disadvantaged position in life, but because of her determination to live in a certain way she is able to overcome the strikes she is born with. Because she lives a life that is separate from the world, she is rewarded.
Janet Larson claims that “Dickens takes a Broad Church position that types were not divinely instituted signs of specific historical events but general symbols of religious ideas” (133). It is my argument that this religious idea—all that comprises the biblical Esther—is symbolized and personified in Esther Summerson: an orphan who is adopted by a beneficent father, scarred and martyred, humble and hospitable and able to save others. Furthermore, the biblical Esther is a prefigured type of Christ and even more so a representation of his church or his bride, which will be examined more carefully later. Esther Summerson is a flawed character whose humanity makes her believable and yet she still strives for perfection. Similarly, it is Christ’s humanity that makes him relatable. (?Hebrews?) Borrowing from the Esther of the Bible, Dickens creates a character that has great beauty. I feel that Dickens uses Esther’s external beauty as a trope to symbolize her internal beauty and strength. As readers we may believe that Esther does not value her beauty or find it particularly important until it is gone. Yet there is something in Esther which draws others to her. Larson points out, “on her chaste Victorian terms, she too obtains ‘favor in the sight of all them that looked upon her’ (Esther 2:15, cf. Woodcourt’s ‘what sacred admiration and what love she wins’ ch. 61)” (143). She possesses something that others want to participate in and share in. Still she does not see herself as much of anything—a trait of humility.
When we first met Esther in chapter three, she tells us of her aunt who was a “good, good woman! She went to church three times every Sunday, and to morning prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays, and to lectures whenever there were lectures; and never missed” (16). Esther is defining ‘good’ in terms of someone who regularly attends church and prayers. Esther sees her aunt as an angel who is in fact so good that the sins of others make her frown (16-17). Esther feels unworthy of her; this ever present feeling of trying to please others is perhaps what pushes Esther to listen so closely to what her aunt tells her. She is taught to pray for her aunt, which tells us that Esther is taught to pray in general. Further the aunt tells her, “pray daily that the sins of others be not visited upon your head, according to what is written” (18). (This is a quote from Exodus 20:5.) Esther does not end up losing her virginity before marriage and having a child out of wedlock. We can see that a theology is at work in this novel. In realizing that this prayer is answered, we can deduce that Esther does in fact pray it. Next we can deduce that her aunt believes that her prayers will be answered and we might assume Esther believes the same thing. James tells his readers in his Epistle, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (5:16). Because her prayers are answered, we can determine that a theology is at work in Dickens’s world of Bleak House. Further evidence of this belief is found in the First Epistle of John, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us” (5: 14-15). So we can learn from this that Esther was diligent in prayer, which we know because her prayers were answered. This is one trait of a good Victorian Christian woman, which works to support the theory that, as one recent critic has put it, Dickens’s treatment of Esther is “thoroughly idealized” (Frazee 228).
Aunt Barbary tells Esther, “Submission, self-denial, diligent work, are the preparations for a life begun with such a shadow on it. You are different from other children, Esther, because you were not born, like them, in common sinfulness and wrath. You are set apart” (19). At least two possible interpretations can be read from this passage. It is possible that Esther’s aunt is telling her that she is born into even more wrath and sin than most common people because of the sins of her mother. This is interesting because when King Xerxes enslaved Esther, because of the religion she was born into, she was considered to be on a lower level than those who were not Jewish. So she bares a resemblance to the biblical Esther again here. However, a second meaning lies here as well. I read this as a sort of prophetic utterance on Esther’s life that refers to the saving grace of God. I think a second meaning here could be that Aunt Barbary is telling Esther that if she practices these virtues she will be free from common sinfulness and wrath. Regardless of her exact meaning there are important elements here: the traits of submission, self-denial and diligent work and the concept of being set apart.
Twenty-first century readers often read the word submission as a negative term. However, historically, traditionally and biblically this is not a negative action. It takes a great deal of self-control to voluntarily submit to the authority of another. Self-control is a positive virtue which takes much practice and patience. Ephesians 5 is a commonly quoted passage referring to submission:
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Submission then is done out of reverence or love for Christ. Even submission to the husband is a positive action because the husband is also commanded to love his wife to the point of death, which is likely harder than the submission of one person’s will to another’s. Esther exhibits this quality of submission in numerous places throughout the text. One of the most striking (and heart wrenching) is the way she submits to Jarndyce when he wants her to marry him. “I put my two arms around his neck and kissed him; and he said was this the mistress of Bleak House; and I said yes; and it made no difference presently, and we all went out together, and I said nothing to my precious pet about it” (601). If Jarndyce were to be her husband, she would be expected to submit to him; Esther is already practicing this virtue.
This passage also works to illustrate the trait of self-denial. This concept is so central to the Christian faith that it is repeated in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Jesus said to his disciples, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” It is a sacrifice for Esther to accept Jarndyce’s proposal because in her heart, she is truly in love with Allan Woodcourt. However, she feels Jarndyce’s happiness is more important, perhaps out of a sense of duty to him, and she seems to genuinely feel that if she marries him, she will be happy too. “I felt that I had but one thing to do. To devote my life to his happiness was to thank him poorly, and what had I wished for the other night but some new means of thanking him?” (599). Perhaps this is the way Esther lives out her faith. She has faith that if she follows the commands she has been given, she will be rewarded in some way—whether that be in this life or the next. Jahn claims, “while for post-Freudian readers Esther’s self-abnegation is neurotic, for the Victorian Christian, such humility before God cooperates with Providence” (376). Although after a first reading, I also may be tempted to see this act as a weakness in Esther, upon a closer reading, it is clear to me that Esther is behaving, as Jahn says, in a humble way. This humility, I believe, takes a great deal of trust in a providential God. Esther is denying her own immediate desires and manages to remain happy about her circumstances because she trusts that Providence has a better plan for her.
To the twenty-first century reader, Esther’s reaction to this engagement may seem strange and even troubling. She indicates that she will say yes to him as a way of thanking him. Then she tells us, “I was very happy, very thankful, very hopeful; but I cried very much.” (599). She then tells herself, “When you are mistress of Bleak House, you are to be as cheerful as a bird. In fact, you are always to be cheerful; so let us begin for once and for all” (600) [emphasis mine]. Esther’s faith is being put to the test here. Although there is a sense of remorse—she feels she has no hope of marrying her true love, Woodcourt—she still feels happy, thankful and hopeful. It may be odd to us to read that she was crying for what was lost yet still hopeful, but this is the character trait that would be expected out of the model Victorian Christian woman. I Thessalonians 5:16-18 encourages believers to “Be joyful always” (NIV) or as the King James puts it, “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” This is indeed what Esther does and her efforts are in fact rewarded for this self-denial when she marries the object of her affection and exclaims, “What happiness was our’s that day, what joy, what rest, what hope, what gratitude, what bliss! (841).”
When Esther’s aunt tells her she is “set apart” she probably means that Esther has been born with such a sin on her that she will not recover from it. However, this concept runs through the Old and New Testaments of the Bible in reference to God’s people. It is also connected to the tenants of Calvinism mentioned earlier. The Israelites, such as the biblical Esther, were constantly referred to as being set apart (Leviticus 20:26, “You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.” and Psalm 4:3 “But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself.” [emphasis mine]). Christians of the New Testament are also referred to in this way. The word church, which refers to the people of God not a building, is actually from the Greek word ecclesia which means “called out.” St. Jerome interprets Esther as “a type of church [who], frees her people from danger and, after having slain Haman, whose name means iniquity, hands down to posterity a memorable day and a great feast” (qtd. in Larson 133). If Esther represents the church, she also represents the Bride of Christ because they are one in the same. Jonathan Edwards reads the book of Esther as “an history that is a shadow of the gospel things and times” and sees Esther as “the church [presented] as a chaste virgin to Christ,” (qtd. in Larson 134). Although Esther is an Old Testament figure, what she represents carries over into the New Testament—this is what Edwards means when he refers to this Old Testament book being a shadow of the gospel. Events that happen in the NT are prefigured in the OT. The symbol of Esther’s submission, bravery, purity and ability to overcome oppression are mirrored in the image of the Bride of Chrsit. Esther Summerson is this bride, presented to Jarndyce who is the only other character in the novel practicing true religion. (“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27. More could be said of Jarndyce’s ability to keep himself separate from the world in this novel; even the location of Bleak House is separate from the world of London). So her aunt’s pronunciation that she is set apart works to further strengthen the argument for Esther as not only an ideal Victorian Christian or Christ-like figure, but also that she represents the Bride of Christ.
It is clear that Aunt Barbary influenced Esther. She takes her advice seriously and determines to “be industrious, contented, and kind-hearted, and to do some good to someone.” She goes on to say that she hopes she is not “self-indulgent” and that she is “very thankful” and “very cheerful” (19). I have already addressed the traits of being thankful and cheerful at all times (I Thessalonians 5:16-17). It is commonly held in Christian thought that one who professes to be a follower of Christ will exhibit “fruit of the Spirit.” Those fruits are listed in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Esther has told us that she is determined to be kind-hearted and to exhibit these qualities. One could argue whether it is possible to act these qualities out by a test of sheer will. It is plain to the readers of Bleak House that she does act out these traits.
We also learn from her time with her aunt that she reads the Bible daily, “I had come down at nine o’clock, as I always did, to read the Bible to her; and was reading from St. John, how our Saviour stooped down, writing with his finger in the dust, when they brought the sinful woman to him” (20). Dickens shows us Esther’s devotion not only to her aunt but also to Jesus Christ. She makes him personal by using the adjective “our” and referring to him as “Saviour.” This term is quite telling in that it reveals that she does not think of Jesus Christ as merely a figure, a prophet, a teacher, but someone with whom she has an intimacy; it also indicates that she is “saved” that is that she has accepted in her heart (as opposed to a theoretical idea) that the person of Jesus Christ has saved her from her sins by his death on the cross. She has internalized this belief and professes it with her mouth. Dickens is illustrating this crucial step in Christian faith to his reader by using this term.
But Dickens goes a step further in this passage. He has Esther reading the famous passage where an adulterous woman comes to the well and others want to cast stones at her. Christ says, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone at her!” Essentially Christ is absolving this woman of her sins and reminding the others that they too have sins that are not as visible as this woman’s. If Esther were to be visited by the sins of her mother, she would eventually be guilty of this act as well. However, Dickens is absolving her of that fate and therefore of that sin just as Christ absolved the woman at the well. This is further evidence of Esther’s faith being trustworthy and true. Her belief in her Saviour has cleansed her from the sins she has committed and has lifted the curse of bearing the sins of the past. Dickens and Christ both write something that works at the same moment to absolve Esther and the lady at the well of their sins.
After Esther’s aunt dies Kenge, Jarndyce’s lawyer, informs Esther that she will go to live at Greenleaf, “where her comfort shall be secure, where her reasonable wants shall be anticipated, where she shall be eminently qualified to discharge her duty in that station of life unto which it has pleased—shall I say Providence?—to call her” (22). Here she receives instruction on how to run a household among other things. She lives here for six years, which I see as a parallel to the period in the life of the biblical Esther when they receive beauty treatments: “six months with oil of myrrh and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of women” (Esther 2:12). Both preparations serve to prepare each Esther to win over the patriarch in her life, either the guardian or the king. Esther Summerson’s immediate reward comes when arriving at Bleak House, she receives the housekeeping keys. These objects that allow entry are much similar to the favor that Esther receives with King Xerxes as she is allowed to enter his court whenever she pleases—a privilege none of the other virgins earn.
As Esther leaves Greenleaf and moves to Bleak House, it is apparent that she not only keeps her word to her aunt, but also the promise she made to herself to do some good to someone. Ada brags about Esther to Jarndyce after they leave the Jellyby’s home: “Esther was their friend directly. Esther nursed them, coaxed them to sleep, washed and dressed them, told them stories, kept them quiet, bought them keepsakes” (66). And later, because of Esther’s servant’s heart and humble attitude, she nurses Charley when she gets sick and in turn catches smallpox. This is obviously one of the most pivotal moments in the story. First the fact that Esther sacrifices her time and efforts to nurse Charley demonstrates her lack of concern for herself and for putting herself first. Secondly because of her self-denial, she places herself in a position where she becomes sick herself. Thirdly this illness weakens her, blinds her and sickens her almost to the point of death; she does recover, but with scars. This progression demonstrates that Esther, like Christ, is a martyr for others. She, also like Christ, suffered and received scars for her acts of goodness. This is not the only place where Esther suffers, but it is one example. Esther’s suffering produces character which produces hope (“we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.” Romans 5:3-4). Esther cheerfully serves others throughout the narration no matter the cost to herself. Jahn asserts that “Dickens’s religious beliefs were primarily ethical: that one should be like Christ with charity towards all” (370). I believe she exemplifies Dickens’s concept of the ideal Christian, which as less to do with strict doctrine and more to do with charity and acts of service. ***insert other quote ?** . This act of service towards Charley, placing herself in a position that could cost Esther her life, is the ultimate test and the greatest expression of love for another: that one would lay down his life for someone else. During her illness, Esther looses her sight, she is weakened and scarred; yet she regains her sight and is brought back from this point. The superficial scars she carries do nothing to prohibit others from loving her. There is something within, not externally, that draws others to her.
As evidence that Esther retains this Christian attitude throughout the story, I would like to look at her encounter with Lady Dedlock when she discovers that she is actually her mother. When she sees Lady Dedlock, Esther says, “I looked at her; but I could not see her, I could not hear her, I could not draw my breath” (500). Esther makes a comparison between sensory input and breathing. She is a character who breathes through others—in a sense. She lives vicariously through others, being happy for their fortunes and also weeping over their sorrows. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he instructs Christians to “Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (12:13-15). We could also look at other instances when she shares in the joys of others such as Caddy and Ada.
In this encounter with her estranged mother, Esther says, “I felt, through all my tumult of emotion, a burst of gratitude to the providence of God that I was so changed as that I never could disgrace her by any trace of likeness; as that nobody could ever now look at me, and look at her, and remotely think of any near tie between us” (500).That Esther thinks she no longer resembles her former self is another Christ-like trait. It is said that he was beaten beyond recognition before being crucified. Though this is not an intentional act on Esther’s part, it could be on Dickens’s. However, Esther’s gladness in being so disfigured and her reaction is further evidence of her faith in action. Although she has been disfigured and although she can hardly breathe she is able to show her gratitude and see this as God’s providence. This phrase, “providence of God,” assumes a certain understanding on the part of the reader and an assumption on the part of the writer that the reader would understand Esther’s attitude here. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this term means “the foreknowing and beneficent care and government of God; divine direction, control or guidance.” It revels a great deal of Esther’s character for her to speak this way. Her tone has not been expressly religious in this narrative other than in the passage examined earlier in this paper; yet here she immediately credits the providence of God with her disfiguration and is able to see this as a positive effect. She leads the reader to believe that this is her instant thought as soon as she has been “brought back to herself.” We saw that her aunt instilled her with a sense of a sovereign God, but we see here that Esther has made this belief her own. If she had not been practicing this theology through the difficult as well as the joyful times in her life, it would be unlikely that she would have so quickly offered up this response.
The mention of providence by Dickens is not accidental. Harland Nelson claims that the tropes used by Dickens “reflect the evangelical belief in Providence, which influenced Dickens, even though he had rejected Christian dogma” (qtd. in Jahn 369). Several critics indicate that Dickens favored a social gospel to a fundamental or evangelical gospel. Clearly from his portrayals of the poor and the powerful in Bleak House readers can get a sense of the injustice he felt was at work. Dickens himself is quoted as saying, “half the misery and hypocrisy of the Christian world arises…from a stubborn determination to refute the New Testament as a sufficient guide in itself, and to force the Old Testament into alliance with it” (Jahn 370). I must question that he truly believed that the New Testament could stand alone without the Old Testament. If he believed this, why then would he have chosen such a central figure of the Old Testament to be his central figure in this novel?
Matthew Henry writes in his introductory commentary on the book of Esther, “How the providence of God watched over the Jews that had returned out of captivity to their own land, and what great and kind things were done for them, we read in the two foregoing books; but there were many who staid behind, having not zeal enough for God's house, and the holy land and city, to carry them through the difficulties of a removal thither” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary).The providence of God has watched over Esther in Bleak House. It has delivered her from captivity, taken her from an orphan to an adopted daughter and has even given her own land, her own Bleak House. Many other characters “stay behind” and are not redeemed as Esther is in this novel. Her determination to live according to the standard her Aunt Barbary laid out for her is rewarded. An orphan girl who looses everything in the end gains everything because of her selfless attitude, her attention to housekeeping and the needs of others, her self-control and her kindness. These are the traits that draw others to Esther throughout the novel and they are the traits that bring her rewards as well.
Works Cited
Bible, The. King James Version unless otherwise noted.
Dickens, Charles. Bleak House. New York: The Modern Library, 2002.
Frazee, John P. “The Character of Esther and the Narrative Structure of Bleak House.”
Studies in the Novel, (1985): 227-240. EBSCO. Westfield State Coll. Lib.,
MA. 3 May 2008.
Jahn, Karen. “Fit to Survive: Christian Ethics in Bleak House.” Studies in the Novel
(1986): 367-380. EBSCO. Westfield State Coll. Lib., MA. 3 May 2008.
Fiction (1983):131-160. JSTOR. Westfield State Coll. Lib., MA. 3 May 2008. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3044787. Henry, Matthew. “Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible.”
Calvin College. 5 May 2008.
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